One of the most annoying things in life is when you just want one pinch of fresh herbs but you’re forced to buy the whole thing and watch the leftovers slowly rot as you try desperately to wrack your opposite-of-chef brain for other ways to use it.
This obviously isn’t a herb-specific issue – it happens to me all the time with a lot of fresh ingredients. I’m just really not one of those people who can look in my cupboard and immediately think of some meal to make with the random things left in there, but I’m also someone who absolutely hates wasting food. As a result, I often resort to making one giant, boring stir-fry or pasta dish that I inevitably get sick of and waste anyway.
It’s not just me facing these struggles either. According to OzHarvest the equivalent of 9,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of food ends up as rubbish in Australia each year. That’s about $3,800 worth of groceries that get wasted per household, yearly.
It’s not just exotic items we’re wasting either. Brisbane City Council reports that the top 10 foods wasted in Brisbane – in order from most to least – are bread, bananas, broccoli, oranges, watermelon, apples, pumpkin, onion, corn and potato. A whopping 26% of the average Brisbane garbo bin is food waste.
Anyone else suddenly feeling even more guilty? Because I am.
Whether you’re a cooking whizz or eat to live, one way to avoid this food wastage is to plan ahead and meal prep. That way you’ll avoid having leftover ingredients AND wasting perfectly good meals (and money) because you just can’t stomach them anymore.
Don’t think it’s possible? As proof that it is, get a load of this shopping list:
- tortillas/ any flatbread
- chickpeas
- spinach
- tomatoes
- feta
- BBQ or roast chicken
- corn
- onion
With which you can whip up an entire seven meals. They’re legit meals too, none of that beans and toast foolishness.
- Spinach Salad (Combine chickpeas, chopped tomato, chopped onion, feta, and obviously spinach. Serve it on the side of some chicken if you want.)
- Spinach and Feta Quesadilla (Chuck spinach, feta, chopped tomatoes and onion into a folded tortilla and fry that bad boy on a pan)
- Hummus Wrap (Make hummus with the chickpeas then add corn, spinach and onion in a tortilla. Add chicken if it tickles your fancy.)
- Chicken Fajitas (Give the chicken, corn and onion a quick stir-fry with cumin and chili powder then throw it on a tortilla.)
- Nachos (Toast a tortilla and cut it up then throw some shredded chicken, feta and chopped tomato on top. Try some onion too if you’re feeling it.)
- Healthy “Pizza” (Use a tortilla as the base then make hummus from the chickpeas and add sliced tomato, feta, chopped onions and a bit of spinach. Grill ‘er up.)
- Mediterranean bowl (Grab a bowl and mix chickpeas, spinach, tomatoes, feta, corn, onions and chicken in it.)
Of course, you can add and subtract ingredients as you wish and you’ll want to add some common spices. A little planning and getting smart about your food storage can go a long way to reducing your food wastage. You can find more recipe inspo and tips to reduce food waste over at Brisbane City Council’s Love Food Hate Waste.
